NBA Playoffs: Where _____ Happens.

Anyone who knows anything about my husband knows he has only one true love, besides me of course. Besides our boys, too. Ok, so there might be quite a few things that top this one true love I speak of, but that's besides the point. So, let me start again. Anyone who knows anything about my husband knows he is a die hard Lakers fan. He grew up watching the Lakers with his whole family--his mom even likes to watch which I think is fantastic--so he is no fair-weather fan. Winning or losing he loves his team. When we moved to LA, we were lucky enough to have friends who had season tickets so for the three years we lived there he attended quite a few games. (Me? not one!) This past December I wanted to get him tickets to the Denver Nuggets/Lakers game but he talked me out of it because of other holiday expenses. I shouldn't have listened, but I did and we just thought, we'll go next year. But then an amazing thing happened--and believe me, Marc was hoping for this the last few games of the regular season as he knew exactly which games every viable team had to win to make this amazing thing happen--Denver and LA sat at just the right spots to be playing each other in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Marc sat up until after midnight a few weeks ago to see the game schedule posted. (Am I painting a clear enough picture of his loyalty?) He decided we should definitely go; he'd never been to a playoff game before. Then he changed his mind but I convinced him we shouldn't pass this up--who knows when the Nuggets and the Lakers will ever play against each other in the playoffs again? So, we bought the tickets and secured my sister as babysitter. (Besides the one time she put Anderson to bed with out changing his diaper (just kidding you, Allison) she's the BEST babysitter in the world. The kids adore her!) Saturday. Game day. We drove to the first train station in Denver, then took the train to the Pepsi Center. I already felt a little out of place--we met a handful of Nuggets fans on our ride up. Marc was hoping that even though we were the only Lakers fans we saw on the train, there would be a decent Lakers following at the game, and when we got to our seats we found we were sandwiched between a pair of Lakers fans and a pair of Nuggets fans so I felt a bit more comfortable, except as the game drew on both sets got a little drunk and the banter became a bit ridiculous. Even though our seats were at the tip top of the stadium, the game was super fun and held my attention until the 4th quarter. Marc made me promise before the game that I'd shout "MVP" every time Kobe was at the free throw line--I kept my promise. It's really easy to cheer for a team that is clearly superior. I may have had a more difficult time if I'd had to cheer for the losing team. The train ride home wasn't quite as uncomfortable as the ride there because lets face it, the Nuggets and their fans had to walk away with their tails between their legs--they lost 102-84. YIKES! As I finish typing, Marc is keeping a close watch on the fourth game in the series as it winds down. Nuggets are down, but only by three and there are five more minutes left in the game. Let's go Lakers! (clap, clap, clappity clap)

PS-- If you (or your hubby) watch ESPN, you'll be able to fill in the blank from the title :)